Entertainment

March Madness Is the Most Emotional Sporting Event on Earth

Ready for the Sweet 16? March Madness's second weekend begins Thursday afternoon, and by Sunday night we'll be down to a Final Four.

The first two rounds last weekend were marked by surprising upsets (top-seed Gonzaga got ousted early), charming Cinderellas (high-flying Florida Gulf Coast became the first 15-seed to survive the tourney's first weekend) and more jaw-dropping plays than we can count.

But actual basketball plays second fiddle to March Madness's real intrigue — the human drama that unfolds before our very eyes as college athletes compete for fleeting moments of glory and once-in-a-lifetime shots at athletic immortality.

Perhaps more than any other sporting event, the single-elimination tournament displays the full range of human emotions. It's sports writ large — a window into the triumphs, connections, frustrations and sadnesses that make up all of our everyday lives. Read on for 10 of this March Madness's best pics of naked emotion:

1. Rabid Desire

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Duke's Ryan Kelly just goes for it during the Blue Devils' first round win over Albany.

2. Utter Confusion

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New Mexico's Alex Kirk cannot frickin' believe his Lobos are about to lose in the first round, and to lowly Harvard at that.

3. Joyous Bromance

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Sherwood Brown and his Florida Gulf Coast bros feel the love during their second round upset over San Diego State.

4. Cautious Hope

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Amanda Marcum, wife of Florida Gulf Coast head coach Andy Enfield, feels good about the underdog Eagles' chances against San Diego State — but knows they aren't out of the woods yet.

5. Crushing Disappointment

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Pitt's bench players watch their hopes and dreams slip away during the second half of a first round loss to Wichita State.

6. True Sorrow

Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

St. Mary's star Matthew Dellavedova can't even look after his stellar college career ends on a last-second three-point attempt against Memphis in the round-of-64.

Twitter's Top March Madness Follows

Glockner covers college hoops for SI.com and is a tweeting machine with more than 98,000 posts to his name. He's a great follow if you want to lurk on some high-level March Madness debates and conversations.

Butler University is a March Madness darling year in and year out now. Woods is the Indianapolis Star's Butler beat writer. Follow him for the inside scoop as the Bulldogs look to make another Cinderella run.

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